I picked Maniac Magee because it showed conflict between two races, whites and blacks, who fought in the beginning but came together as a union at the end of the novel.
Genre
Maniac Mageeis a young adult fiction novel. This novel is suitable for ages from 14 to 21. It is also a fantasy fiction novel. There are many instances in this novel that showed that it is a fantasy fiction novel. One example is when Maniac runs two hundred miles from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania to Two Mills. Also, this novel is a speculative novel. It crosses through fantasy fiction and alternate history. It is an alternate history novel because it showed two races who are segregated into two ends: West End and the East End. Only whites are allowed to go the West End and only blacks are allowed to go to the East End. There is another instance where Mr. McNab called Mars Bars an African American “it”. This shows lack of maturity and judgment. It is also an adventure novel. Maniac Magee is a white boy who accomplished the unification of blacks and whites by walking to the East End. He walks to the East End and goes to his black friend's house name Amanda Beale (he met her during school). With this event, blacks and whites start to communicate, and come together. This novel is partially tragic when the narrator discusses Maniac Magee's parent's death in the trolley crash.
Summary
Jeffrey (Maniac) Magee lived in Bridgeport with his parents until he was three years old. On that year, his parents were killed in a trolley accident over the Schuylkill River. During the next eight years, Jeffrey lives with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. They are dysfunctional because his aunt and uncle never speak to each other. They dislike each other but, being strict Catholics, refuse to get divorce. At the spring musical at Jeffrey's school, which his aunt and uncle attended, he screams at the top of his lungs, "Talk, Talk, Talk"! and then runs away. He runs for a year with his sneakers falling apart, he ends up in Two Mills, a town linked to Bridgeport by the Schuylkill Bridge. He speaks to a black girl named Amanda Beale who has a suitcase full of books. Maniac borrows a book from her and promises to return it. In the high school football field, he punts thefootball that travels farther than any of the football players has ever thrownit. Also, he rescues a 10 year old boy from Finsterwald's backyard, a placethat cause terror in all the kids in West End. Maniac hits John McNab's (a whiteboy) fastball and bunted a "frogball" for several homeruns. Afterbeing chased by John McNab and his group of friends, the Cobras, Maniac ends upin the East End and is confronted for the first time by Mars Bar Thompson.Rescued by Amanda Beale, Maniac goes to the Beale's house. After revealing toMr. Beale that his home is the deer shed at the zoo, the Beales invite Maniacto stay with them. Once when an old black man called him "Whitey, gohome" and someone wrote "Fishbelly" on the side of the Beale's house, he left Beale's house.
Maniac Magee in the movie Maniac Magee
Maniac is found hungry and dirty in the buffalo pen at the zoo by an old man name Earl Grayson. He takes Maniac to the baseball equipment room in the band shell. He feeds Maniac, buys him clothes and lets him stay in the baseball room. Maniac teaches Grayson how to read and Grayson teaches Maniac about baseball. Maniac spends his Thanksgiving and Christmas with Grayson. Five days after Christmas, Grayson dies in his sleep. Maniac left in grief and ran wherever his legs will take him. Maniac ends up at Valley Forge where he decides to die. One night, Piper and Russell McNab, brothers of John McNab came to Maniac living in a small cabin. The young boys were running away from home but Maniac took the boys back to the McNab’s house and ends up staying there. The house is dirty, messy and has cockroaches crawling everywhere. While walking through the East End, Maniac ended up with Mars Bar, who insists on racing him. Maniac wins, beating Mars Bar by running the last few feet of the race backwards. Maniac then leaves the McNabs, choosing to sleep in the park. He couldn't stand what the McNabs were doing or the way they were thinking. Russell and Piper find him in the library and insist Maniac to come to Piper's birthday party. Maniac agrees as long as he can bring a friend. Mars Bar agrees to go to Piper's birthday with Maniac. They go to the McNabs' house, where John and the Cobras try to intimidate Mars Bar. Maniac had to drag Mars Bar out of the house to prevent a fight. Eventually, Maniac and Mars Bar begin to run together in the mornings and learn to respect each other.
.
Characters and Quotes
Maniac (Jeffrey) Magee – He is the protagonist in the story. He is eleven year old white boy born in Bridgeport. He is an orphan and finds himself in Two Mills, where he becomes a local legend while trying to find a home. His parents died in the trolley crash and had lived with his separated Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan who lives in the same house. "A couple of people truly remember, and here's what they saw: a scraggly little kid jogging toward them, the soles of both sneakers hanging by their hinges and flopping open like dog tongues each time they came up from the pavement" (pg. 9) said the narrator. He has astonishing athletic abilities, runs everywhere he goes, can untie any knot, is allergic to pizza and crosses the barrier between East End and West End.
Maniac Magee in the novel.
Amanda Beale - A young black girl who attends elementary school in the East End. She is the first person Maniac meets in Two Mills. "What made Amanda different was that she was carrying a suitcase, and that's what caught Maniac's eye" (pg. 10) said the narrator. She carries her library books in a suitcase so her books aren't ruined by her younger siblings, Hester and Lester. She defends Maniac from Mars Bar the bully, and eventually provides him with a home. Amanda is a friendly and generous person. She is not prejudiced towards the opposite race. She loves Maniac as a brother despite his white skin color. She gets hurt when Maniac leaves.
Mars Bar Thompson - A young black boy from the East End who is an antagonist to Maniac. He is a mountaineer, which means he knows how to party. He changes during the course of the novel due to his experiences and actions. Mars Bar harasses Maniac by blocking his way and tries to intimidate Maniac with an intense glare. He gets angry with Maniac when he lost the race with him and also gets humiliated when Maniac ran backwards for the last few feet from the finish line. Maniac confuses him because Maniac is not prejudiced toward him or afraid of him. He is known for eating Mars Bar chocolate bars. "He (Mars Bar) held up the candy bar, an inch from Maniac's lips", "Wanna bite?" (pg. 34) said the narrator and Mars Bar.When Maniac takes a bite of Mars Bar's candy, (an unheard of act because blacks and whites never put their mouths where the other has been) Mars Bar is shocked by Maniac's nerve. Soon they are running together, never talking or paying attention to the other. Mars Bar begins running in the early mornings like Maniac. Mars Bar and Maniac become equals. Mars Bar starts to forget about color. Mars Bar shows his concern and love for Maniac when he finds him sleeping in the buffalo pen at the zoo. Mars Bar even invites Maniac to live with him and his family. Jerry Spinelli creates the friendship between Mars Bar and Maniac to portray the beginning of desegregation in Two Mills.
Themes and Big Ideas
In this novel of a young boy's attempt to unify the town of Two Mills, Jerry Spinelli demonstrates two distinct themes: homelessness and racial prejudice. Throughout the novel, Spinelli focuses on home or the lack of it. Maniac "was not born in a dump." The first three years of his life were spent in an average house with a mother and father. He has a home and a family. When his parents were killed, his home and family has ended. He lived with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan. Even though he lives in a house, he does not feel as though he belongs or as though he is "home." At the age of 11, Maniac chooses homelessness over a dysfunctional household. Spinelli supports the significance of having a home and an address. Maniac lives in the deer shed at the zoo. Maniac soon discovers a home for himself at the Beales and is happy to have an address. Despite the fact that the Beales are black and Maniac is white, he fits in and loves his new home. Living in the band shell, Maniac has an address again, 101 Band Shell Boulevard and a family in the form of Earl Grayson. When Grayson dies, Maniac is once again without a home and a family. He ends up staying at the McNab's house, wondering why he is there. After Maniac manipulates Mars Bar into going to the McNab's house, he walks around until he thinks he should go home. Maniac is found by Mars Bar and Amanda as he is sleeping once again in the buffalo pen at the zoo. Amanda insists that Maniac to come home. At long last, Maniac "knew that finally, truly, at long last, someone was calling him home." (pg. 184)
In the movie, Mars Bar is in the left, Maniac Magee is in the right and Amanda Beale is the girl in the center.
Racial prejudice is another major theme of Maniac Magee. When Maniac jogs into Two Mills, he says "hi" to everyone he passes. In Two Mills, the racial line, or boundary, between the blacks and whites is Hector Street. The blacks live in the East End and the whites live in the West End. Spinelli uses Maniac to unite the East End and the West End. When Maniac meets Amanda Beale, a black girl, she is suspicious of him. She wonders what a white kid is doing in the East End. He and Amanda share an interest in books and become friends. Maniac lives with the Beales and is accepted as part of the family. The image of Maniac taking a bath with Hester and Lester Beale portrays the joining of the races to live together as family. It also shows Spinelli's ultimate hope for desegregation and an end to racial prejudice. When Maniac races Mars Bar, and shows him up, Mars Bar's hatred towards whites becomes a hatred for one person: Maniac. Mars Bar is able to see Maniac as a human being. This change in Mars Bar allows Maniac and Mars Bar to develop respect for each other and later, a trusting friendship. Maniac tries to perform a "miracle" by taking Mars Bar, a black by to the McNab house, a white people’s house. He realizes that the unification, or desegregation, of Two Mills will have to be accomplished by educating people about the opposite race.
Major Conflict or Problem in the Novel
Maniac Magee suffered through two major conflicts in the book: homelessness and segregation of whites and blacks. After he ran away from his aunt and uncle, he needed a family and a home. He finds a family and a home with the Beale's family. When people started to write names in the Beale's house, Maniac starts to worry that he might jeopardize the Beales' lives. As a result, he left from the Beale's house. So, again he suffers with no home or family. He stayed with Grayson in the buffalo pen. Maniac declared Grayson as part of their family. He enjoyed his Thanksgiving and his Christmas with Grayson. Four days after Christmas, Grayson dies in his sleep. Maniac runs away again in grief. This is the third time Maniac meets with the homeless conflict. He saw Russell and Piper McNab running away. So, he brought them back home and spent a night or two in the McNab's house. Maniac could not stand the way McNabs live and think about the blacks from the East End. With this thought, he runs away and sleeps in the park. Lastly, Amanda and Mars Bar showed care by telling and forcing him to go to her house. Maniac also suffered from the segregation of whites and blacks. The whites lived in the West End and the blacks lived in the East End. Maniac suffered from both races. In the novel, the McNabs showed hatred towards Maniac and Mars Bar showed hatred towards Maniac. The hatred started to appear when Maniac crossed the East End and stayed with the Beales for few days. The purpose of Spinelli bringing the character of Manic Magee is to unite the two races together. At the end of the novel, Maniac was able to achieve his goal by bringing two races together. Not only Maniac was able to achieve his goal, but Jerry Spinelli was also successful in the use of Maniac Magee for that goal.
Symbolic Image
My Symbolic Image
The picture I have drawn symbolizes the segregation of whites and blacks. The Hector Street divides the West End and the East End. This symbol shows how the whites and blacks in the US couldn't respect or get along with each other like in the 1960's. In this novel, whites were only allowed to live and hang around in the West End and the blacks were only allowed to live and hang around in the East End. Both races were not allowed to cross Hector Street. For example, when Maniac met Amanda Beale with a suitcase full of books, he wanted to help her carry the suitcase. But she didn't show respect to him. She says rudely "Who are you?" (pg. 11). Also, Mars Bar was angry and shocked with Maniac when he bit off one of Mars Bar's candy bars. Maniac Magee broke the barrier between whites and blacks by entering the East End of the city.
New or Unusual Words
1. Emanations - the act of flowing out or proceeding. Another swears it was a mirage, some sort of hallucination, possibly caused by evil emanations surrounding 803 Oriole Street. (pg. 18) 2. Gangplank - a small, moveable bridge like structure that allows people to board or leave a ship at a pier. The victims were hunched and trembling, walking the gangplank. (pg. 23) 3. Befuddled - to confuse. Maniac was befuddled. (pg. 35) 4. Pranced - to move or dance. Maniac danced and pranced and screamed with the rest. (pg. 60) 5. Wiseacre - a person who has great wisdom regarded by irritation from others. He was acting so different, all glum, and wiseacre answers. (pg. 65) 6. Antsy - agitated, impatient or restless. When the seconds became minutes, they started to get antsy, and before ten minutes had passed, they were zooming off in search of somebody to terrorize. (pg. 71) 7. Blarney - a deceptive or misleading talk; nonsense. Well, of course, Maniac knew that most if not all of that was blarney, and, just to make sure, he watched the ball extra carefully. (pg. 97)
Existing Works
There are many similar works related to Maniac Magee. One similar work related to Maniac Magee is the movie Remember the Titans. In that movie, we see how two football teams of different races, whites and blacks, come together and play as one unified team. The movie was based on a true story about a high school football team in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. Coach Herman Boone's team (black football team) and Assistant Coach Bill Yoast's team (white football team) had struggled to respect each other. During the football camp, they fought everywhere. Later when the season started, they were able to unite as one team and fought together to win every game. As a result of this, they were able to make the playoffs and win the state championship without losing a single game. As in the movie where, the white and black players were separated initially in Maniac Magee whites lived in the West End and the blacks live in the East End. They never communicate or respect each other. Maniac Magee changed it by talking to Amanda Beale in school and by entering the East End. He even lived in the Beale's house, in the East End for few days. Maniac could not understand why blacks and whites can't be friends or just respect each other. He was successful in making the whites and blacks come together. In the movie, coach Boone helped to integrate his team by forcing one white player to share a room with one black player during the football camp. In the end it helped the whites and blacks in the town to respect each other.
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
My Reason For Picking Maniac Magee
I picked Maniac Magee because it showed conflict between two races, whites and blacks, who fought in the beginning but came together as a union at the end of the novel.Genre
Maniac Magee is a young adult fiction novel. This novel is suitable for ages from 14 to 21. It is also a fantasy fiction novel. There are many instances in this novel that showed that it is a fantasy fiction novel. One example is when Maniac runs two hundred miles from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania to Two Mills. Also, this novel is a speculative novel. It crosses through fantasy fiction and alternate history. It is an alternate history novel because it showed two races who are segregated into two ends: West End and the East End. Only whites are allowed to go the West End and only blacks are allowed to go to the East End. There is another instance where Mr. McNab called Mars Bars an African American “it”. This shows lack of maturity and judgment. It is also an adventure novel. Maniac Magee is a white boy who accomplished the unification of blacks and whites by walking to the East End. He walks to the East End and goes to his black friend's house name Amanda Beale (he met her during school). With this event, blacks and whites start to communicate, and come together. This novel is partially tragic when the narrator discusses Maniac Magee's parent's death in the trolley crash.Summary
Jeffrey (Maniac) Magee lived in Bridgeport with his parents until he was three years old. On that year, his parents were killed in a trolley accident over the Schuylkill River. During the next eight years, Jeffrey lives with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. They are dysfunctional because his aunt and uncle never speak to each other. They dislike each other but, being strict Catholics, refuse to get divorce. At the spring musical at Jeffrey's school, which his aunt and uncle attended, he screams at the top of his lungs, "Talk, Talk, Talk"! and then runs away. He runs for a year with his sneakers falling apart, he ends up in Two Mills, a town linked to Bridgeport by the Schuylkill Bridge. He speaks to a black girl named Amanda Beale who has a suitcase full of books. Maniac borrows a book from her and promises to return it.In the high school football field, he punts the football that travels farther than any of the football players has ever thrown it. Also, he rescues a 10 year old boy from Finsterwald's backyard, a place that cause terror in all the kids in West End. Maniac hits John McNab's (a white boy) fastball and bunted a "frogball" for several homeruns. After being chased by John McNab and his group of friends, the Cobras, Maniac ends up in the East End and is confronted for the first time by Mars Bar Thompson. Rescued by Amanda Beale, Maniac goes to the Beale's house. After revealing to Mr. Beale that his home is the deer shed at the zoo, the Beales invite Maniac to stay with them. Once when an old black man called him "Whitey, go home" and someone wrote "Fishbelly" on the side of the Beale's
house, he left Beale's house.
Maniac is found hungry and dirty in the buffalo pen at the zoo by an old man name Earl Grayson. He takes Maniac to the baseball equipment room in the band shell. He feeds Maniac, buys him clothes and lets him stay in the baseball room. Maniac teaches Grayson how to read and Grayson teaches Maniac about baseball. Maniac spends his Thanksgiving and Christmas with Grayson. Five days after Christmas, Grayson dies in his sleep. Maniac left in grief and ran wherever his legs will take him. Maniac ends up at Valley Forge where he decides to die.
One night, Piper and Russell McNab, brothers of John McNab came to Maniac living in a small cabin. The young boys were running away from home but Maniac took the boys back to the McNab’s house and ends up staying there. The house is dirty, messy and has cockroaches crawling everywhere. While walking through the East End, Maniac ended up with Mars Bar, who insists on racing him. Maniac wins, beating Mars Bar by running the last few feet of the race backwards. Maniac then leaves the McNabs, choosing to sleep in the park. He couldn't stand what the McNabs were doing or the way they were thinking. Russell and Piper find him in the library and insist Maniac to come to Piper's birthday party. Maniac agrees as long as he can bring a friend. Mars Bar agrees to go to Piper's birthday with Maniac. They go to the McNabs' house, where John and the Cobras try to intimidate Mars Bar. Maniac had to drag Mars Bar out of the house to prevent a fight. Eventually, Maniac and Mars Bar begin to run together in the mornings and learn to respect each other.
.
Characters and Quotes
Maniac (Jeffrey) Magee – He is the protagonist in the story. He is eleven year old white boy born in Bridgeport. He is an orphan and finds himself in Two Mills, where he becomes a local legend while trying to find a home. His parents died in the trolley crash and had lived with his separated Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan who lives in the same house. "A couple of people truly remember, and here's what they saw: a scraggly little kid jogging toward them, the soles of both sneakers hanging by their hinges and flopping open like dog tongues each time they came up from the pavement" (pg. 9) said the narrator. He has astonishing athletic abilities, runs everywhere he goes, can untie any knot, is allergic to pizza and crosses the barrier between East End and West End.Mars Bar Thompson - A young black boy from the East End who is an antagonist to Maniac. He is a mountaineer, which means he knows how to party. He changes during the course of the novel due to his experiences and actions. Mars Bar harasses Maniac by blocking his way and tries to intimidate Maniac with an intense glare. He gets angry with Maniac when he lost the race with him and also gets humiliated when Maniac ran backwards for the last few feet from the finish line. Maniac confuses him because Maniac is not prejudiced toward him or afraid of him. He is known for eating Mars Bar chocolate bars. "He (Mars Bar) held up the candy bar, an inch from Maniac's lips", "Wanna bite?" (pg. 34) said the narrator and Mars Bar. When Maniac takes a bite of Mars Bar's candy, (an unheard of act because blacks and whites never put their mouths where the other has been) Mars Bar is shocked by Maniac's nerve. Soon they are running together, never talking or paying attention to the other. Mars Bar begins running in the early mornings like Maniac. Mars Bar and Maniac become equals. Mars Bar starts to forget about color. Mars Bar shows his concern and love for Maniac when he finds him sleeping in the buffalo pen at the zoo. Mars Bar even invites Maniac to live with him and his family. Jerry Spinelli creates the friendship between Mars Bar and Maniac to portray the beginning of desegregation in Two Mills.
Themes and Big Ideas
In this novel of a young boy's attempt to unify the town of Two Mills, Jerry Spinelli demonstrates two distinct themes: homelessness and racial prejudice.Throughout the novel, Spinelli focuses on home or the lack of it. Maniac "was not born in a dump." The first three years of his life were spent in an average house with a mother and father. He has a home and a family. When his parents were killed, his home and family has ended. He lived with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan. Even though he lives in a house, he does not feel as though he belongs or as though he is "home." At the age of 11, Maniac chooses homelessness over a dysfunctional household.
Spinelli supports the significance of having a home and an address. Maniac lives in the deer shed at the zoo. Maniac soon discovers a home for himself at the Beales and is happy to have an address. Despite the fact that the Beales are black and Maniac is white, he fits in and loves his new home. Living in the band shell, Maniac has an address again, 101 Band Shell Boulevard and a family in the form of Earl Grayson. When Grayson dies, Maniac is once again without a home and a family. He ends up staying at the McNab's house, wondering why he is there. After Maniac manipulates Mars Bar into going to the McNab's house, he walks around until he thinks he should go home. Maniac is found by Mars Bar and Amanda as he is sleeping once again in the buffalo pen at the zoo. Amanda insists that Maniac to come home. At long last, Maniac "knew that finally, truly, at long last, someone was calling him home." (pg. 184)
Racial prejudice is another major theme of Maniac Magee. When Maniac jogs into Two Mills, he says "hi" to everyone he passes. In Two Mills, the racial line, or boundary, between the blacks and whites is Hector Street. The blacks live in the East End and the whites live in the West End. Spinelli uses Maniac to unite the East End and the West End. When Maniac meets Amanda Beale, a black girl, she is suspicious of him. She wonders what a white kid is doing in the East End. He and Amanda share an interest in books and become friends. Maniac lives with the Beales and is accepted as part of the family. The image of Maniac taking a bath with Hester and Lester Beale portrays the joining of the races to live together as family. It also shows Spinelli's ultimate hope for desegregation and an end to racial prejudice. When Maniac races Mars Bar, and shows him up, Mars Bar's hatred towards whites becomes a hatred for one person: Maniac. Mars Bar is able to see Maniac as a human being. This change in Mars Bar allows Maniac and Mars Bar to develop respect for each other and later, a trusting friendship. Maniac tries to perform a "miracle" by taking Mars Bar, a black by to the McNab house, a white people’s house. He realizes that the unification, or desegregation, of Two Mills will have to be accomplished by educating people about the opposite race.Major Conflict or Problem in the Novel
Maniac Magee suffered through two major conflicts in the book: homelessness and segregation of whites and blacks. After he ran away from his aunt and uncle, he needed a family and a home. He finds a family and a home with the Beale's family. When people started to write names in the Beale's house, Maniac starts to worry that he might jeopardize the Beales' lives. As a result, he left from the Beale's house. So, again he suffers with no home or family. He stayed with Grayson in the buffalo pen. Maniac declared Grayson as part of their family. He enjoyed his Thanksgiving and his Christmas with Grayson. Four days after Christmas, Grayson dies in his sleep. Maniac runs away again in grief. This is the third time Maniac meets with the homeless conflict. He saw Russell and Piper McNab running away. So, he brought them back home and spent a night or two in the McNab's house. Maniac could not stand the way McNabs live and think about the blacks from the East End. With this thought, he runs away and sleeps in the park. Lastly, Amanda and Mars Bar showed care by telling and forcing him to go to her house.Maniac also suffered from the segregation of whites and blacks. The whites lived in the West End and the blacks lived in the East End. Maniac suffered from both races. In the novel, the McNabs showed hatred towards Maniac and Mars Bar showed hatred towards Maniac. The hatred started to appear when Maniac crossed the East End and stayed with the Beales for few days. The purpose of Spinelli bringing the character of Manic Magee is to unite the two races together. At the end of the novel, Maniac was able to achieve his goal by bringing two races together. Not only Maniac was able to achieve his goal, but Jerry Spinelli was also successful in the use of Maniac Magee for that goal.
Symbolic Image
The picture I have drawn symbolizes the segregation of whites and blacks. The Hector Street divides the West End and the East End. This symbol shows how the whites and blacks in the US couldn't respect or get along with each other like in the 1960's. In this novel, whites were only allowed to live and hang around in the West End and the blacks were only allowed to live and hang around in the East End. Both races were not allowed to cross Hector Street. For example, when Maniac met Amanda Beale with a suitcase full of books, he wanted to help her carry the suitcase. But she didn't show respect to him. She says rudely "Who are you?" (pg. 11). Also, Mars Bar was angry and shocked with Maniac when he bit off one of Mars Bar's candy bars. Maniac Magee broke the barrier between whites and blacks by entering the East End of the city.
New or Unusual Words
1. Emanations - the act of flowing out or proceeding. Another swears it was a mirage, some sort of hallucination, possibly caused by evil emanations surrounding 803 Oriole Street. (pg. 18)2. Gangplank - a small, moveable bridge like structure that allows people to board or leave a ship at a pier. The victims were hunched and trembling, walking the gangplank. (pg. 23)
3. Befuddled - to confuse. Maniac was befuddled. (pg. 35)
4. Pranced - to move or dance. Maniac danced and pranced and screamed with the rest. (pg. 60)
5. Wiseacre - a person who has great wisdom regarded by irritation from others. He was acting so different, all glum, and wiseacre answers. (pg. 65)
6. Antsy - agitated, impatient or restless. When the seconds became minutes, they started to get antsy, and before ten minutes had passed, they were zooming off in search of somebody to terrorize. (pg. 71)
7. Blarney - a deceptive or misleading talk; nonsense. Well, of course, Maniac knew that most if not all of that was blarney, and, just to make sure, he watched the ball extra carefully. (pg. 97)
Existing Works
There are many similar works related to Maniac Magee. One similar work related to Maniac Magee is the movie Remember the Titans. In that movie, we see how two football teams of different races, whites and blacks, come together and play as one unified team. The movie was based on a true story about a high school football team in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. Coach HermanAs in the movie where, the white and black players were separated initially in Maniac Magee whites lived in the West End and the blacks live in the East End. They never communicate or respect each other. Maniac Magee changed it by talking to Amanda Beale in school and by entering the East End. He even lived in the Beale's house, in the East End for few days. Maniac could not understand why blacks and whites can't be friends or just respect each other. He was successful in making the whites and blacks come together. In the movie, coach Boone helped to integrate his team by forcing one white player to share a room with one black player during the football camp. In the end it helped the whites and blacks in the town to respect each other.
Link to Goodreads Review
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/429112385Here is the Maniac Magee movie if you want to see it!